{"id":59079,"date":"2026-05-02T04:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T12:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=59079"},"modified":"2026-05-02T04:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T12:11:21","slug":"citing-bogus-threats-to-us-trump-expands-already-devastating-sanctions-on-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/02\/citing-bogus-threats-to-us-trump-expands-already-devastating-sanctions-on-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Citing Bogus \u2018Threats\u2019 to US, Trump Expands Already Devastating Sanctions on Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Citing Cuba\u2019s ties with its ally Iran, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order expanding the already crippling US sanctions regime against Cuban officials, as the US administration has the island in its crosshairs after ousting Venezuela\u2019s socialist leader.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2026\/05\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-sanctions-on-cuban-regime-officials-responsible-for-repression-and-threats-to-u-s-national-security-and-foreign-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order<\/a> cites highly dubious \u201cnational security threats posed by the communist Cuban regime,\u201d including Havana\u2019s alignment \u201cwith countries and malign actors hostile to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The directive \u201cimposes new sanctions on entities, persons, or affiliates that support the Cuban regime\u2019s security apparatus, are complicit in government corruption or serious human rights violations, or are agents, officials, or material supporters of the Cuban government,\u201d without identifying any of the affected groups or individuals.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddfa Trump signs executive order dramatically escalating &quot;sanctions&quot; on Cuba, targeting energy, finance, and security sectors<\/p>\n<p>President Trump signed an executive order Friday, marking one of the most sweeping expansions of US economic pressure on Cuba in decades, blocking the US\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5d1mSc3We6\">pic.twitter.com\/5d1mSc3We6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DropSiteNews\/status\/2050298040016072901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>For 65 years, the US has imposed an economic embargo on Cuba that has adversely affected all sectors of the socialist island\u2019s economy and severely limited Cubans\u2019 access to basic necessities including food, fuel, healthcare, and medicines \u2013 <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/sanctions-killing-cuban-infants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with disastrous results<\/a>. The Cuban government <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/us-embargo-on-cuba\" target=\"_self\">claims<\/a> the blockade cost the country\u2019s economy nearly $5 billion in just one 11-month period in 2022-23 alone. United Nations member states have perennially \u2013 and overwhelmingly \u2013 <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/cuba-blockade\" target=\"_self\">condemned<\/a> the embargo.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration also <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/jayapal-jackson-cuba-trip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">imposed<\/a> a fuel blockade and reinstated Cuba on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list, from which former President Joe Biden removed the country before leaving office in 2021. Cuba was initially added to the list during the Reagan administration amid a decadeslong campaign of US-backed <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/05\/28\/luis-posada-carriles-hemispheres-most-wanted-terrorist-dies-free-in-miami-at-age-90\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cuban exile terrorism<\/a>, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2006\/aug\/03\/cuba.duncancampbell2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failed assassination attempts<\/a>, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cigaraficionado.com\/article\/economic-war-against-cuba-7326\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">economic warfare<\/a>, and covert operations <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/nsarchive.gwu.edu\/briefing-book\/cuba\/2019-10-03\/kennedy-cuba-operation-mongoose\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">large<\/a> and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/dec\/11\/cuban-hip-hop-scene-infiltrated-us-information-youth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">small<\/a> in a futile effort to overthrow the revolutionary government of longtime leader Fidel Castro.<\/p>\n<p>Cuba <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2021\/01\/14\/putting-cuba-on-the-terrorism-list-is-unjustified-and-unwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">says<\/a> US-backed terrorism has killed or wounded more than 5,000 Cubans and cost its economy billions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>The Cuban government \u2013 which was celebrating International Workers\u2019 Day on Friday \u2013 did not immediately respond to the expanded sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Experts warned that the new sanctions are worryingly broad, with Georgetown Law visiting scholar Peter Harrell <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/petereharrell\/status\/2050308356238188891\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writing<\/a> on X that \u201cbasically any non-US person or company doing any business in\/with Cuba could be sanctioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harrell noted that the edict \u201cgives the Trump administration a fair amount of easy-to-deploy firepower to drive remaining international businesses out of Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe questions will be in implementation,\u201d he added. \u201cFor example, will Trump sanction a Chinese firm installing renewable energy in Cuba?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s edict comes months after the president ordered the invasion of Venezuela and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/nicolas-maduro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">abduction<\/a> of socialist President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and amid the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, the 10th country bombed during the course of Trump\u2019s two terms in office.<\/p>\n<p>Trump last month declared that \u201cwe may stop by Cuba after we\u2019re finished with this,\u201d referring to war on Iran that\u2019s left thousands of people dead or wounded, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/children-in-war\" target=\"_self\">including<\/a> hundreds of children. The president has also <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-take-cuba\" target=\"_self\">said<\/a> that he believes he\u2019ll \u201cbe having the honor of taking Cuba,\u201d language echoing the 19th century US imperialists who conquered the island along with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain in another war waged on <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.workers.org\/2022\/04\/63411\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dubious pretense<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether I free it, take it \u2013 I think I can do anything I want,\u201d Trump said of the island and its 11 million inhabitants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citing Cuba\u2019s ties with its ally Iran, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order expanding the already crippling US sanctions regime against Cuban officials, as the US administration has the island in its crosshairs after ousting Venezuela\u2019s socialist leader. Trump\u2019s executive order cites highly dubious \u201cnational security threats posed by the communist Cuban [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[806],"class_list":["post-59079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"The president\u2019s latest aggression toward Cuba comes amid his repeated threats to \u201ctake\u201d the island."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59079"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59085,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59079\/revisions\/59085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59079"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=59079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}